DeShone Kizer suggests his Brady/Newton comparison was taken “out of context”

Posted by Mike Florio on April 21, 2017, 11:44 AM EDT

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In recent comments to USA Today, former Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer said he combines Tom Brady’s brain with Cam Newton’s body. Regardless of whether Kizer should have kept those thoughts to himself (he should have), Kizer now takes issue either with the quote or the characterization it has received.

Here’s the full quote that appeared in Thursday’s story from MDS: “Name a college quarterback who goes into the game-plan meetings on Monday and throws his notes at the coaches. No one else game plans the way I do. No one else prepares the way I do. No one else knows football the way I do. No one else is as big as I am. No one else is as powerful a runner as I am. Pat Mahomes might throw the ball 80 yards and I can only throw the ball 72, but I guarantee he can’t throw an out route the way I can. No one else can do what I can do. And I’ve truly figured out in this process, if I can maximize all my potential in every aspect of the game – this is bold – I do have the ability to be the greatest quarterback to ever play. Imagine taking Brady’s intellect and Brady’s preparation and putting it on a guy with Cam Newton’s body. Why can’t I be the greatest? The only thing stopping me from it is me. That’s what’s driving me now.”

Here’s the key portion of the quote, isolated from the rest of what Kizer said: “Imagine taking Brady’s intellect and Brady’s preparation and putting it on a guy with Cam Newton’s body.”

Here’s the headline to the PFT story: “DeShone Kizer: I have Tom Brady’s brain in Cam Newton’s body.”

It’s unclear whether he believes the quote was taken out of context or that the headline takes his words out of context. (Tom Ley of Deadspin seems to think Kizer is referring to the quote.) Either way, nothing Kizer said was taken out of context.

“Imagine taking Brady’s intellect and Brady’s preparation and putting it on a guy with Cam Newton’s body” is what Kizer said. The context wasn’t a discussion regarding the potential construction of a football Frankenstein monster; the context was Kizer talking up his own skills in relation to those possessed by other quarterbacks in the same draft class.

Since Kizer clearly was talking about himself when he said “imagine taking Brady’s intellect and Brady’s preparation and putting it on a guy with Cam Newton’s body,” it’s more than fair to craft a headline that characterizes Kizer as saying, “I have Tom Brady’s brain in Cam Newton’s body.”

It also would have been fair to isolate another quote as the bait for clicks.

The PFT headline was out of context. He didn’t say: “I have Tom Brady’s brain in Cam Newton’s body.”

He said: “If I can maximize all my potential in every aspect of the game – this is bold – I do have the ability to be the greatest quarterback to ever play. Imagine taking Brady’s intellect and Brady’s preparation and putting it on a guy with Cam Newton’s body.”

What DeShone Kizer is saying is he has the ability to have Brady’s brain in Newton’s body if he maximizes his potential. And he’s not there yet. Thus: “The only thing stopping me from it is me. That’s what’s driving me now.”

Thus the important context lacking in the headline was that Kizer didn’t say he had that now, only that he has that potential. The word “imagine” is your tip off.

The PFT Headline was out of line here. They jump on other sports networks because of their spin on things don’t come across quite right but they are quick to defend themselves when their spin on things don’t come across quite right.

randomcommenter says:
Apr 21, 2017 12:29 PM
Not much different than how most millennials feel about themselves these days. They are all the greatest ever and know everything and if you disagree, you are just ignorant.

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Back when you were a kid I guess you had to walk fifteen miles to school in the snow. barefoot and uphill both ways.

I have news for you. If you start thinking that way about the next generation, it’s not because they are different then any other snot nosed punk kid generation that game before. It means you are old.

“The thing that jumps out at me is the idea that Brady is an intellectual. Brady is quite possibly the GOAT QB but an intellectual, is a stretch at best…..”

He didn’t say Brady was an “intellectual”, he said he had Brady’s intellect which also means mind.

And for the record Brady is well educated and has a brain capable of processing what’s going on him at an almost preternatural rate. He almost certainly is an “intellectual” as well as having a great intellect.

Ignore, Deshone…just go about your quest to be the best. If you don’t have that confidence, you will be a loser. The worst thing you can do is listen to all this negativity. Greatness comes with positivity and surround yourself with people that believe in your best interests. Most of the people putting you down have never even thrown a football…

yeah, that’s what you want, a qb on a team involved in the biggest cheating scandal of the last 10 plus years, combined with a qb who wouldnt dive on his own fumble in the biggest game of the year….aim high my friend…